Seems like once a year or so that I feel drawn to reviewing – and hopefully in some manner clarifying – the tenets of valid cognition. And so it is that I embark once again on this journey … What Is Valid Cognition? The phrase “valid cognition” (Sanskrit: pramāṇa) is one that appears largely in Buddhist philosophy – though there are similar explorations within Yoga and Vedanta. The aspects of …
[Read more...] about Revisiting The Tenets Of Valid Cognition: When Is Knowledge Reliable?
There are so many interesting things to explore! And I’ve explored quite a few, thus far in my life—following the thread of my enthusiasm, what piques my interest, lights my fire. But in comparison to all possible things to explore—all the phenomena past, present, and future, in this universe and all others—clearly the explorations accomplished via this one body-mind are miniscule: an estimate …
[Read more...] about Practice Notes: Distinction and Separation
Would it be fair to consider the Tao of Taoism to be more-or-less the equivalent of the Aristotelian “unmoved mover”—the “first cause” of all motion in the universe? Let’s explore .... Why? Most two-year-olds, as they’re first learning how to speak, become fascinated with the question “why?”—which they quickly discover can be applied not only to their initial inquiry, but also—ad infinitum—to …
[Read more...] about Turtles All the Way Down: Tao as First Cause
In the great tradition of Neo standing in the kitchen with the Oracle, amidst the scent of cookies, here’s a passage from Wei Wu Wei’s Why Lazarus Laughed which, as of late, has really been “baking my noodle.” Questions that Are Not A good example of a question that is not is: “Do you believe in such-and-such a thing?” In so far as nothing exists, there is nothing to believe in. In so far as …
In a previous post, I introduced a psychological model rooted in Vasubandhu’s Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only—which sheds light on how unconscious or subconscious habit-patterns condition our current experience. Neither Random Nor Rigidly Determined Just as important as understanding how such conditioning happens, is understanding how these causal influences can be modulated or dissolved. …
The first verse of the Tao Te Ching is one to be returned to, again and again ... The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Yet mystery and …
